“The Society of Authors has demanded the Internet Archive’s Open Library stops lending books “unlawfully” online in the UK, arguing the US practice of Controlled Digital Lending is a breach of copyright.

In an open letter, the trade body urged the San Francisco-based Internet Archive to immediately discontinue the practice of lending scanned copies of physical books on its site. “There is no legal basis for the practice of scanning books without permission or lending them in the UK,” said the SOA. “Despite this, users in the UK are currently able to borrow scanned copies of physical books from Open Library. That is a direct and actionable infringement of copyright.””